1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a disc cartridge within which a disc-type optical recording medium, hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9coptical discxe2x80x9d, is received, and more particularly to a disc cartridge that is adaptive for receiving a small-size optical disc and is compatible with a large-size disc cartridge. Also, this invention is directed to a disc driver that is adapted to drive a different size of disc cartridges.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, an optical disc is classified into a read-only type and a recordable type. The optical disc has been a tendency to a high density owing to a continuous study and development thereof. Such a high density of optical disc, particularly recordable-type optical disc requires a protection of the recording face from its contamination or damage in order to assure a recording stability. To this end, a recordable-type optical disc is usually available in a state received within a disc cartridge.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional disc cartridge includes a body 2 defined with an opening 6, and a shutter 4 for opening up the opening 6. An optical disc 1 with a diameter of 120 mm is rotatably received within the disc cartridge. The opening 6 is opened and closed by the shutter 4. The shutter 4 is linear-movably installed at the body 2. When the disc cartridge is loaded within a disc driver, the shutter 4 is linearly moved into the left or the right by means of a shutter opener installed within the disc driver to thereby open the opening 6. By an opening of the opening 6, the optical disc 1 is exposed to the exterior to be safely loaded on a turntable of a spindle motor and is clamped by a clamper. When the opening 6 is opened, an optical pickup irradiates a laser light through the opening 6 during the recording or the reproduction to thereby access the recording face or the reproducing face of the optical disc 1. A width of the opening 6 must be more than an opening width W in FIG. 1. This is intended to assure a clamping area of the optical disc 1 pressed with the spindle motor and the damper as well as to assure an access space of an optical pickup in such a manner that the optical pickup is freely carried in a radial direction of the optical disc 1. If the disc cartridge begins ejecting into the exterior in a state in which the opening 6 has been opened, the shutter opener returns to the original position thereof, thereby applying a restoring force of a spring, not shown, to the shutter 4. Then, the shutter 4 is carried into its original position by the restoring force of the spring to shut out the opening 6. The disc cartridge taken out into the exterior keeps a state in which the opening 6 is closed as long as an external force is applied to the shutter 4.
Generally, within the disc cartridge as shown in FIG. 1 is received an optical disc having a diameter of 120 mm. The optical disc with a diameter of 120 mm can record or reproduce a large capacity of data, but it has a drawback in that it is inconvenient to carry about it. The optical disc with a diameter of 120 mm and the disc cartridge are recorded or reproduced by means of a disc driver installed at a cradle information equipment such as a personal computer (PC). On the other hand, the optical disc with a diameter of 120 mm and the disc cartridge have a relatively large dimension, it is difficult to employ it to a small-size information equipment such as a digital camera, a camcoder and so on. As the optical disc has been a tendency to a high density, the optical disc is trending toward a small dimension so that it can be applied to the small-size information equipment. For example, an optical disc with a diameter of 80 mm is expected to be utilized as a recording medium of the camcoder, a recording medium of the digital camera or a recording medium of the portable computer. Such a small-size optical disc also is a tendency to be received within the disc cartridge so that it can be protected from a contamination or a damage thereof like the large-size optical disc. However, since the small-size disc cartridge has a reduced size of body 2 in comparison to the large-size disc cartridge enough to reduce a carried amount of the shutter 4, it is difficult for the opening 6 to assure a sufficient opening width W.
A scheme of reducing a width of the opening may be considered in view of such a problem, but the clamping space and the accessing space are reduced to that extent. If the clamping space and the accessing space are reduced, then it can not help reducing the sizes of the optical pickup, the damper and the turntable of the spindle motor installed within the disc driver driving the existent large-size optical disc. Moreover, because a clamping force exerting on the optical disc is reduced as a reduced clamping size is reduced in this case, the optical disc is liable to be influenced by a vibration. To compensate such a vibration is attended with much technical difficulties such as a more accurate servo control. As a result, it can be seen that the scheme of reducing a size of the opening 6 require an individual disc driver suitable for the small-size disc cartridge because it is not available to a disc driver loaded with the large-size disc cartridge.
Alternatively, a scheme disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Gazette No. Puyng 8-180636 is to permit a single disc driver to drive a different size of cartridges by utilizing an adapter. However, it is useless to employ the adapter because, if the size of opening is different, the optical pickup, the spindle motor and the clamper, etc. must have different sizes.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide a new scheme of permitting the small-size disc(or the small-size disc cartridge) and the large-size disc(or the large-size disc cartridge) to be driven with a single disc driver.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a disc cartridge with a gearing shutter that is compatible with a large-size disc cartridge.
Further object of the present invention is to provide a disc driver that is adapted to drive both a small disc cartridge and a large-size disc cartridge.
In order to achieve these and other objects of the invention, a disc cartridge with gearing shutters according to one aspect of the present invention includes first and second shutter members for opening and closing the opening; and connecting means for linking the first and second shutter members as any one of the first and second shutter members is driven.
A disc driving apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention includes receiving means for receiving a small-size disc cartridge within which a small-size optical disc is received and in which, when any one of the first and second shutter members is driven, the other shutter member is linked; and driving means for driving the small-size disc cartridge.